Orillia Ontario - Last weekend, I went to the antique show at the fairgrounds and one thing that caught my eye was a beautiful Canadian National Railway poster dating to about 1910, extolling the virtues of the wide-open Prairies for settlement and agriculture and the railway for its role in transporting settlers and keeping them connected to the rest of the country.
 
It was very expensive, but I wasn't surprised, for the "romance" of railway history in Canada is something many collectors find hard to resist.
 
When you consider, until not long ago, the railroad was the only practical way of connecting far-flung communities and had such an impact on people's lives, it is not surprising the huge amount of material and equipment required to operate the railroads have such nostalgic appeal today.
 
While some collectors have the resources to buy and lovingly restore entire railway cars or even old station buildings, most are content to focus on items that are more within reach and the "tools of the trade", some examples of which are shown in the photo, is one popular category.
 
Many miles of railway track were laid in Canada in the 19th century.
 
Essentially, it consists of flat-bottomed steel rails supported on timber sleepers (ties) laid on a bed of crushed stone.
 
The rails are held to the sleepers with spikes.
 
It took thousands of spikes, one of which is shown at the front of the photo, for each mile of track, so it is no wonder they are one of the most common railway artifacts.
 
Spikes had a square cross-section to give them better holding strength and a wedged tip that was driven into the sleeper, parallel to the track.
 
The offset head matched the shape of the flange of the rail.
 
Partly visible at the rear of the picture is the heavy spike maul, or spiking hammer, used to drive the spikes.
 
The long, double-faced head allowed spikes to be driven on opposite sides of the rail.
 
Because of the huge number of spikes to be driven to lay even a small length of track, speed was of the essence and the standard for an experienced spiker was to drive a spike in three blows.
 
The maul weighed at least 12 pounds and had a long (about 36 inches) handle.
 
Great strength and endurance were essential.
 
Driving spikes was thirsty work and a familiar sight for a work crew was a water can with a tin mug, like the one shown in the photo, attached to the can's handle with a chain.
 
The mug has "CNR" and the word "LOGO" embossed on it and, as with all "railroadiana," a railway name or logo increases its interest to collectors.
 
Railroad security was always an issue, and locks were made in various shapes and sizes for different purposes.
 
The lock shown here is a heavy-duty one with a chain attached and was most likely used on equipment.
 
It has a swing plate over the stem where the key would be inserted to open the lock and the plate is embossed with the initials "CNR".
 
Most locks were made of forged steel, like this one, but smaller locks for switches were often made of brass.
 
Tinware is the name collectors often give to the broad range of containers and other miscellaneous metal items used in railroad maintenance and operation.
 
Although some of these wares were made of tin, most were fashioned from sheet metal, which was either galvanized or painted.
 
The fuel can on the left is known as a safety can and was used to transport fuel or other flammable liquids.
 
The tallow pot on the right, with its distinctive squat shape and curved spout set low on the can, is one of two styles of cans used to hold a supply of heavy oil for lubricating the cylinders of a steam engine.
 
Tallow was a common lubricant until the First World War (when it was requisitioned for munitions manufacture) and the squat can with its large base could be placed on the back of the boiler in the engine car so the contents were kept warm and liquid for pouring easily into a small oil can for use on a job.
 
The tallow pot was made by Eagle Manufacturing Co. in West Virginia, which made all sorts of tinware for railroad use.
 
The last two items in the photograph are lamps.
 
More precisely, the one in front of the kerosene lantern is a torch, with its typical long, hollow metal handle, short, fat reservoir and long arm with the wick (which is original) still pushed into it.
 
Torches were used by steam-locomotive inspectors and the angle of the wick holder meant the torch could be held up underneath the engine or illuminate nooks and crannies the light from an ordinary lantern could not reach.
 
It is marked with embossed "CNR" initials.
 
The lantern at the back looks pretty basic, and most were, but they were one of the most important means of communication on the railway between engineers on the train and staff at the stations.
 
The loud noise of a steam engine meant visual communication was used instead of auditory and while semaphore with flags served well during the day, in the dark of night, lanterns were used.
 
This is an Adlake Kero lantern, one of the most widely used on railways.
 
Adlake is the common acronym for the Adams and Westlake Company.
 
It was an American firm, based in Chicago, which started making lanterns of all styles about 1857, but by the 1880s, the company concentrated heavily on railway lanterns.
 
The lantern is also marked Hiram L. Piper Co. Ltd., a Canadian company that was licensed by Adlake to make lanterns in Canada for the Canadian railways.
 
Earlier lanterns had a tall globe and burned oil.
 
Once kerosene was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, short globes like the one on this lantern were used, as kerosene burned with a weaker flame than oil and needed a smaller burning chamber to achieve brightness.
 
Most lanterns were made with a cage base, where the cage of wires around the globe extended down over the burner to the bottom of the lantern.
 
The one shown here has a less common solid bell base, which, combined with the embossed "CPR" on the top and the globe, makes it particularly attractive to collectors.
 
Those of us of a certain age all have memories of the railway, from waving to the men in the caboose, to waiting on a station platform for a train to arrive, and artifacts like these are wonderful reminders of the glory of the great age of the train.

Gay Guthrie.

       

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